Trudeau Says Border Opening Plans Are Being Considered, as Are Vaccine Passports

Trudeau Says Border Opening Plans Are Being Considered, as Are Vaccine Passports

April 27, 2021 Jim Byers

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today said the Liberal government is “preparing plans” to re-open Canada’s borders, possibly with the help of vaccine passports. But he said it’s still too early to give a date.

In some of his strongest and clearest comments on both issues in some time, the prime minister today said the health of Canadians comes first. Asked about the European Union announcing that it will allow fully vaccinated Americans to visit, Trudeau said that “scientists and other experts are currently closely watching the impact of full vaccination on the ability of the virus to spread. Once the time is right, we will open up the borders again properly, perhaps with necessary vaccination certificiates.”

“But … we’re not yet at this point. We need to ensure that when the time comes we do things right to continue to ensure that Canadians are safe,” he said in French.

Asked when those answers might come, Trudeau repeated that the government in Ottawa is “currently examining” the situation.

“We’re right in the middle of the third wave,” he said. “Our priority is the safety of Canadians now. We’re preparing plans to eventually open up again, but it’s too early to talk about when and how.

“Right now we’re just concentrating on this third wave, and we hope it will be the last one. That’s why people need to hang in a little longer.”

Canadian travel and tourism officials have said repeatedly that they need some kind of re-opening plan from the federal government so they can make plans for what could still be a decent summer for business. Trudeau didn’t provide any dates, but he did say his government is making plans for a border re-opening, and that has to be encouraging news for a devastated industry.

“Hearing our Prime Minister speak about plans to reopen the border and all of the considerations that go along with that is encouraging news,” Beth Potter, President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, told Canadian Travel News. “It would be my hope that he starts to share the details sooner rather than later so that businesses can gain some clarity on how to plan for restarting the tourism industry in Canada.”

On the issue of vaccine passports or certificates, Trudeau noted again that such requirements are common around the world and “are naturally to be expected when it comes to this pandemic and the coronavirus. How we actually roll that out in alignment with partners and allies around the world is something that we’re working on right now to coordinate. I can assure you that our decisions will be based on science and the fact that those discussions are ongoing right now means we will be aligned with our partners around the world.”

Asked if that’s a yes to vaccine passports for Canada, Trudeau replied, “We will have more to announce when we have to announce. Right now we’re focused on getting through this pandemic and being prepared to come roaring back once we’re through it.”

On another note, the prime minister said he had a “very good conversation” with U.S. president Joe Biden last week about the possibility of getting surplus AstraZeneca vaccines shipped from the U.S. to Canada.

“We are in touch on a regular basis. I hope to have news soon.”